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>> Friday, December 29, 2006

My new thing over the holidays has been making jewellery. I've done beading over the years, then put it aside for awhile in favour of all the textile type stuff. But I felt inspired over the holidays and have got back into the jewellery.

I actually have a large box with two large drawers filled with tons and tons of beads and findings. I love buying beads and things, but then I don't always get around to making things with them. I'll show you the box sometime, it's quite a collection.

My favourite materials are swarovski crystals and pearl beads with silver findings. I've also been wanting to make something with my two favourite beads that were a gift from Bradley, a tiny white elephant bead, and a tiny pink bird bead (both made from mother of pearl). The two necklaces I made from these beads are keepers, but the most of my other creations are going into my etsy shop.

The top of the page shows my white elephant necklace, and this is the pink bird version:Some blue amazonite, swarovski crystal and glass bead earrings (given as a gift to my friend Jaimie):Freshwater pearl silver flower decorated earrings:Matching necklace with a freshwater pearl, new and vintage crystals:Swarovski crystal earrings in pink and brown:And lastly, this necklace is about to go into the shop... it has a grey freshwater pearl that I love, also from Sassy Bead Co. It's not one of the black pearls you see more often but a lovely silvery grey colour. I've looked for more of the mother of pearl beads at the Sassy Bead co. where they came from but they didn't have any left. I think they had some other animals...but the elephant and bird were my favourites. Has everyone noticed all the new bead stores on Queen West? It seems to be a real bead neighbourhood there - you can find just about anything. I think I still like Arton best - they really do have great prices.

>> Thursday, December 21, 2006

How did it get so close to Christmas already? I was a little groggy from having a cold for a week so that may be why I didn't notice the time flying by. It's also my excuse for not managing to send out cards this year. But still, I've been busy making some presents and also these new stockings for me and Bradley. They're made from white microfleece lined with a pink patterned cotton fabric. I embroidered the little trees and then added the red rick-rack at the end. The rick-rack has an extra loop for hanging up the stockings.Then at the end I added tags with our names...just to make sure you-know-who knows whose is whose. Merry Christmas everyone!

>> Friday, December 01, 2006

This year we bought a wee (artificial) tree, just 2 feet tall which is the perfect size for our little home. I waited until the beginning of December to decorate it, since November just seemed too early. And I decided in a madcap flash of inspiration that the colour scheme would be red and white.

In previous years I've bought little potted trees, but I never did seem to be able to plant them, so they would linger along for a few months (which is actually quite nice in the wintertime) but then start to look sadder and sadder and eventually die. So it seemed perfect when I found this little artificial one in a Queen West furniture shop (and for only $11.50). It looks quite real, and the branches have wire inside so you can adjust them.

When it comes to miniature trees I like the ornaments to be proportional in size. The first thing I found was a box of red glass balls. Then I gathered up all the little red and white ornaments I had from previous years and added the red bird for the top. At that point I found some little pinecones I had gathered up sometime last year (where? when?) and knew I had found the perfect finishing touch. So this is my Christmas decorating "how to" for this year.

I've been doing a lot of painting lately so I had this little container of white paint. Debbie Travis sells them at Canadian Tire so you can try out her paint colours. Such a great idea, and even better they have little brushes attached to the lid. So the first step is to just brush paint along the outside of the cone so that it looks like snow.Then the second step is to hot glue gold thread to the top so that you can hang the ornament.Here's a close-up. I even think the hot glue looks a bit like sap so it doesn't look bad at all!And that's it! I love our tree this year.

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In a nutshell, I'm a freelance illustrator and inveterate crafter. Click on the picture above to see my full profile. You can email me at needlebook [at] clairelouisemilne.com. Thank you for your comments and for linking to me!-:- Claire -:-

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